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Reducing number of juveniles into “school-to-prison pipeline” goal of local agreements

Cindy Kelly, right, attorney for Topeka USD 501, said the new memorandum of understanding that went into effect July 1 should provide positive alternatives to arresting students for low-level crimes committed on school property. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)

Michael Kaye, right, retired Washburn Law School professor, helped craft a memorandum of understanding that took effect on July 1, getting local school districts, law enforcement and the Kansas Children’s Service League to more formally collaborate to reduce the number of students who are arrested and become part of the juvenile justice system. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)

Ron Brown, chief of security for Topeka USD 501, said his school police officers will still have discretion to make arrests if they deem necessary under a memorandum of understanding that took effect on July 1. However, he said his officers will no longer be part of the school discipline procedures that staff members are responsible for under the MOU. (Chris Neal/The Capital-Journal)

Michael Kaye believes the “cruelest and harshest and coldest” way to treat a child is in a juvenile detention facility.

“You can’t use the adult model of criminal justice,” said the retired, long-time Washburn University law professor. “You’ve got to use a criminal justice system that recognizes kids.”

Kaye, who traveled across Kansas to study other districts’ approach to school-based discipline, played a key role in creating a model memorandum of understanding that officially went into effect on Saturday, July 1.

The document, a requirement for all of the state’s 286 districts, formalizes the cooperation among schools, law enforcement, corrections, the court system and child welfare entities to reduce the number of minors put into what is commonly known as the “school-to-prision
pipeline.”

The MOU that Kaye helped create is being used by Topeka Unified School District 501 and formalizes the collaboration among the district, Topeka Police Department, Shawnee County Corrections and the Kansas Children’s Service League that operates the county’s juvenile intake facility.

Shawnee County’s other four districts have entered into similar agreements with either their local police department or the Shawnee County
Sheriff’s Office.

The agreements are the outgrowth of SB 367, a bipartisan law passed by the Kansas Legislature in 2016. The sweeping legislation creates less punitive sentences for juvenile offenders and requires the restriction of juveniles placed in secure state facilities to only those who are deemed high-risk and those who commit the most serious felonies. Juveniles who commit lower-level offenses are to be served by evidence-based community programs funded with money that would have otherwise been devoted to incarceration under previous policies.

Shawnee County’s juvenile intake center, operated by the Kansas Children’s Service League, has an average daily population of 30 juveniles, down from an average daily population of 70 just a few years ago, Brian Cole, director of the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, recently told Shawnee County commissioners.

Kaye said the MOU still allows for the arrest of students on school property if the situation warrants. However, he said the agreement formalizes the line between school discipline that should be administered by staff members and school police officers ensuring the safety of students and staff.

“That line in the MOU and the state’s concern, too, is that they want to make sure that both sides (officers and staff) know what their limitations are,” Kaye said, adding that officers can no longer serve as “hall monitors.”

“The officer should be there to support the staff and to ensure that they are not physically harmed and a crime does not occur,” said Ron Brown, chief of security for Topeka USD 501. “Schools should administer discipline. Police officers should be responsible for safety and security.”

Brown said while most of the arrests of USD 501 students are made at the high school level — mostly for disorderly conduct — those numbers are “dramatically” dropping and he expects them to continue falling with the implementation of the MOU. He said the MOU gives officers the latitude to give students written warnings and a “notice to appear” in juvenile court for a school-based offense, avoiding the custodial arrest of a student on school property.

“The officers have a great deal of discretion,” Brown said, “but I don’t have any desire to see numbers (0f arrests).”

Kaye said the juvenile justice reforms Kansas has adopted are important because “zero tolerance” policies have been a failure in the school system and black students are nearly 5 times as likely to be arrested.

“This is called ‘disportionate minority contact,’ ” he said. “It’s got to stop.”

The MOU states that school personnel, not just school police officers, will receive training on the contents of the MOU. Officers will receive additional training from the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center, or KLETC, on how to diffuse and de-escalate situations that could lead to negative school-based behaviors.

The training is designed for officers and school staff to recognize “implicit bias,” create cultural competence and use restorative justice techniques for various groups of students, especially students of color, students with disabilities and LGBTQ students.

As part of the MOU, the superintendent can designate staff members to receive the same type of training conducted by the KLETC that school police officers receive. New teachers and all school personnel will be trained on the contents of the MOU during the first semester of the 2017-18 school year.

Ultimately, the goal of SB 367 and the local MOUs that will be reviewed annually is to provide students with wrap-around services rather than arresting them for lower-level offenses such as fights, disorderly conduct, possession of misdemeanor amounts of marijuana, possession of alcohol and minor vandalism and petty theft.

“School officials, campus police and SROs (school resource officers) should make every effort to connect students to school or community-based support services, such as counseling, mentoring, or extra-curricular activities, when appropriate,” according to the MOU.

Cindy Kelly, attorney for USD 501, said the legislation and accompanying MOU are more “student friendly, student focused” than past policies.

“If it works, as it should,” she said, “it should do good things for kids. Our numbers in terms of referrals to the (juvenile justice) system have been going down, even without this MOU, but I think this will help to focus us on areas where we can do better.”

Contact reporter Angela Deines at (785) 295-1143 or follow her on Twitter @AngelaDeines.